The word 记者 (jìzhě, journalist/reporter) is formed by combining two characters: 记, which means "to record" or "to note down", and 者, which is a nominalizer that essentially means "one who does" or "the person of". Therefore, the compound conceptually fuses these ideas to create the meaning "one who records", perfectly capturing the core function of a journalist. It is a direct and logical semantic construction where the action defines the profession.